mario party superstars

content/games/pc/the-darkside-detective.md

@@ -14,13 +14,13 @@ tags:
 
 As always, one day, on the lookout for worthwhile adventure games, [Michael Klamerus](https://michael-klamerus.itch.io/) over at Mastodon suggested to try out _The Darkside Detective_. That name rang a bell as it's also briefly covered in my Point & Click Adventure book from Bitmap Books, in one of the last pages, as it's a fairly recent game, from 2017. The GOG.com gods decided that a sale was in order, and three clicks later, I bought and installed the game. Let's put on our paranormal investigative hats and see what's beyond those big pixels. 
 
-_The Darkside Detective_ is indeed an [adventure game](/tags/adventure), but a very short one, clocking in only about three hours, even further fragmented by the way the game presents its six cases (plus post-game bonus content). In each case, you play as detective McQueen, who, together with his trusty sergeant Dooley, is in charge of "Darkside matters" at the station. His colleagues make fun of his methods---and at a certain point, you get to plan your small revenge---as Darkside matters are rarely seen as important. But in the eyes of McQueen, floating and sometimes bickering ghosts, purple sparkles, and big dinos scared of the government are all in need of his help. 
+_The Darkside Detective_ is indeed an [adventure game](/tags/adventure), albeit a very short one, clocking in only about three hours, even further fragmented by the way the game presents its six cases (plus post-game bonus content). In each case, you play as detective McQueen, who, together with his trusty sergeant Dooley, is in charge of "Darkside matters" at the station. His colleagues make fun of his methods---and at a certain point, you get to plan your small revenge---as Darkside matters are rarely seen as important. But in the eyes of McQueen, floating and sometimes bickering ghosts, purple sparkles, and big dinos scared of the government are all in need of his help. 
 
 ![](spookybook.jpg "Woah, purple light emitting from a book, good thing my ViewFinder protects the eyes.")
 
 What immediately stands out is the simpleness of this game. Cases are very short. There's only that many screens and inventory puzzles to go through in each case. Even more remarkable: if you _point_ and _click_, McQueen is too lazy to act on that and just stands still in each scene. You'll have to imagine him picking up something and putting it in his trousers. For most cases, you don't need to pick up more than five or six items, and they're immediately depleted and removed from the inventory bar once used, so no red herrings there either. 
 
-Instead, _The Darkside Detective_ can be seen as a laid-back adventure game that's just here for fun and goofs. Click on everything you see to get Dooley or McQueen say something funny. The writing doesn't really bother to work towards a cliffhanger or tightly integrated story line. Instead, you're served dry humor after dry humor, which might or might not work. This, combined with the paranormal setting---including obligatory [purple tentacle](/games/pc/day-of-the-tentacle) sticking out of a toilet---reminds me of Lovecraft knockoffs like Munchkin. If that's not your thing, or you're looking for a gripping story, perhaps look elsewhere. I did have a good laugh during most cases while the game lasted.
+Instead, _The Darkside Detective_ can be seen as a laid-back adventure game that's just here for fun and goofs. Click on everything you see to get Dooley or McQueen say something funny. The writing doesn't really bother to work towards a cliffhanger or a tightly integrated story line. Instead, you're served dry humor after dry humor, which might or might not work. This, combined with the paranormal setting---including obligatory [purple tentacle](/games/pc/day-of-the-tentacle) sticking out of a toilet---reminds me of Lovecraft knockoffs like Munchkin. If that's not your thing, or you're looking for a gripping story, perhaps look elsewhere. I did have a good laugh during most cases while the game lasted.
 
 ![](dontcrossthestreams.jpg "Good advice Dooley.")
 

content/games/switch/mario-party-superstars.md

@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+---
+title: "Mario Party Superstars: Rehashed Previous Party Parade"
+date: 2022-10-20
+score: 3
+game_release_year: 2021
+howlongtobeat_id: 94077
+howlongtobeat_hrs: 8.7
+game_name: "Mario Party Superstars"
+game_developer: 'Nintendo'
+game_genre: 'Partygame'
+tags:
+  - partygame
+  - mario
+---
+
+Although I'm not against the concept, I've never been keen on buying virtual party games. It's always more involving to get together a group of friends than just one friend, and once we're together, we usually prefer pulling out a _real_ board game. Yet during the Christmas holiday period last year, we thought it would be fun to roll a few virtual dice in true Mario fashion, and we bought the latest _Mario Party_ incarnation, confusingly named _Superstars_, while the previous Nintendo Switch entry was called _Super Mario Party_---which, according to my friend who is unlucky enough to own it, sucks. Rest assured, _Superstars_ does what it says on the tin: it brings together previous "superstars" in a neat package with improved graphics, guaranteeing evenings full of teasing, and hopefully, fun.
+
+The back of the box says:
+
+> Enjoy fully renewed versions of Nintendo 64 game boards, win minigames, experience various surprises, and become the superstar! Contains 100 minigames from the entire series, all playable with button controls!
+
+The first _Mario Party_ game dates from 1998 and was indeed released on the Nintendo 64, as were v2 and v3. Party 4--7 targeted the GameCube, and 8--9 the Wii, while the Wii U had to be content with only one release, v10. _Mario Party Superstars_, the 2021 version that is, lends minigames of all these previous games (of which 55 from the first 3 games), but is clearly a throwback to the first four games, as the board come from the N64 era:
+
+- [Yoshi's Tropical Island](https://www.mariowiki.com/Yoshi%27s_Tropical_Island) (MP1);
+- [Space Land](https://www.mariowiki.com/Space_Land) (MP2);
+- [Peach's Birthday Cake](https://www.mariowiki.com/Peach%27s_Birthday_Cake) (MP1);
+- [Woody Woods](https://www.mariowiki.com/Woody_Woods) (MP3);
+- [Horror Land](https://www.mariowiki.com/Horror_Land) (MP2)
+
+![](board.jpg "The Woody Woods area in turn 1, when inspecting the board.")
+
+The question then is: does _Superstars_ add anything new? Yes and no. Yes: there's plenty of statistics, unlockable stickers and achievements, and leaderboards to marvel at. Yes: there's an online multiplayer version, which is kind of a big deal, but also isn't at all. Mario Party is about playing with friends on the same couch, not about playing with strangers. I don't care for that feature and haven't bothered trying it out (it requires a Nintendo Switch Online membership). No: there are no new minigames nor board designs to be found here: it's all a rehash of previous entries---which is perhaps for the better, considering the attempt to bring something new to the genre with _Super Mario Party_ failed miserably. 
+
+I can vaguely remember owning one or two GameCube iterations of Mario Party, so I'm not biased with N64 nostalgia for this one. The boards are fun to play and very thematic, but in the end, it's still a very simple affair of throw-a-die-and-move-spots-further. You can get _very_ unlucky with a game of Mario Party: Bowser suddenly steals your star, the AI controlling other characters---you always play with 4---suddenly have lucky streaks, ... But that's part of the game and perhaps charm. We enjoyed almost all minigames, and everyone has their favorites, but none of them stood out as particularly bad: Nintendo did an excellent job at cherry-picking from their rich past. 
+
+![](yoshiwon.jpg "A photo pose of a finished Space Land starring the winner my wife as Yoshi!")
+
+_Superstars_ comes with a few nice quality of life improvements over the older versions that are welcome but not necessary such as faster AI turns, and of course nicer graphics to accommodate for a modern audience. The game does wear its nostalgic roots on its sleeve: every start of a game, the mechanics of a specific board are explained with the help of retro screenshots from the original---a lovely touch. 
+
+Power-ups that can be bought when passing a certain spot on the board also make an expected return, with a few ones like the Golden Pipe (for 25 coins) being particularly nasty as they allow anyone to take a shortcut directly to the star---the one with the most stars at the end of the game is the winner. During the last few rounds, the game tries to spice up things a bit by upping the coin gaining/losing rate and introducing 1vs1 "duels" if you land on the same spot as someone else. I never really felt that tension and feel like a bit more unconventional quirks from these boards besides Bowser or Boos stealing all your money, sudden direction changes, or various forms of teleports might have been welcome. 
+
+![](minigame.jpg "One of the minigames: trace the image with a jackhammer. The one on the upper right clearly misunderstood the assignment... ")
+
+The biggest pain points of _Mario Party_ games are laid bare when lacking a proper party: when I play with just my wife or a friend, two AI players still make it in the game because everything is based on 4 players. Even though the animation can be sped up, it's never fun to loose from an AI, and this being a bit of a luck-based game, it's certainly possible. You can also skip the boards entirely and focus on just the minigames, but without something that holds it together, playing minigame after game grows stale pretty quickly. 
+
+Another problem that becomes apparent after hour 10 or so is the lack of board variation. There are only five present in the game. For a full-priced `€60` Nintendo game, it could be argued that more boards packed into the released base game would have been welcome. MP2 contains 5 boards (+1 later in the game) and 65 minigames, MP3 5 boards and 70 games, MP4 6 boards and 60 games, while this one comes with 5 boards and 100 games---not that far off the average, but none of them are new, so why not include at least 6 or even 7? Even the amount of playable character is quite limited. 
+
+Even stranger, there is no DLC content available, and people are still speculating as to why---and hoping this will change in the near future. Perhaps this month, since it'll be a year old? I doubt it'll be released as free content. 
+
+![](postcard.jpg "You can customize a postcard that summarizes your favorite parts of the game. The backgrounds are unlockable, god knows why.")
+
+Well then, is _Superstars_ a stinker akin to _Super Mario Party_? No! Is it as mediocre as most post-N64 _Mario Party_ releases? No! What we have here is one of the best releases in years, simply because the best of the previous ones were put together in a box. We like playing it now and then, preferably with three or four, but if money is tight or you're tired of the ol' Italian plumber, I'd suggest to look for a sale or one of the Jackbox Party games instead. 
+

data/webmentions.json

@@ -1,4 +1,18 @@
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+    {
+        "author": {
+            "name": "Jefklak",
+            "picture": "/pictures/jefklakscodex.com"
+        },
+        "name": "The Darkside Detective: Case By Case Silliness",
+        "content": "As always, one day, on the lookout for worthwhile adventure games, Michael Klamerus over at Mastodon suggested to try out The Darkside Detective. That name rang a bell as it’s also briefly covered in my Point & Click Adventure book from Bitmap Book...",
+        "published": "2022-10-15T00:00:00+00:00",
+        "url": "https://jefklakscodex.com/games/pc/the-darkside-detective/",
+        "type": "mention",
+        "source": "https://jefklakscodex.com/games/pc/the-darkside-detective/",
+        "target": "https://jefklakscodex.com/tags/adventure",
+        "relativeTarget": "/tags/adventure"
+    },
     {
         "author": {
             "name": "Wouter Groeneveld",